Secretary of State John Kerry had a message for lawmakers he suggested were harping on the Obama administration’s response to the September 11 raid on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi: let’s move on.

“Let’s get this done with, folks,” Kerry told the House Foreign Affairs Committee in his first appearance before Congress since taking office. “"I do not want to spend the next year coming up here talking about Benghazi."

Seven months after the attack, which killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, Kerry faced sharp questions from Republican lawmakers over security at the Benghazi facility leading up to the attack and in the immediate aftermath.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California suggested the Obama administration lied to Congress about details related to the attack and is “attempting to stonewall progress” on a Congressional investigation by withholding requested documents.

Rep. Ed Royce, a Republican from California who is the chairman of the committee, took issue that officials who have been criticized for their handling of the issue remained on the State Department payroll, while Rep. Mo Brooks, a Republican from Alabama, spoke about “false statements” about the attack by U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice.

Kerry countered that administration officials involved in the Benghazi incident already testified eight times before Congress, briefed congressional leaders roughly 20 times and submitted about 25,000 pages of related documents. His predecessor, Hillary Clinton, testified for five hours.

“I don’t think anybody lied to anybody,” Kerry said.

Kerry said the United States was making progress in implementing the security recommendations of an independent panel which investigated the Benghazi attack and that the Obama administration has fingered individuals it believes were involved in the attack. He did not say, however, whether any arrests were made.

“We are making progress," Kerry told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "There's video, as you all know. We have identified people. And they are building a case. You know, we're going through the tedious, laborious and very difficult process of gaining evidence from a part of the country which is dangerous and working in a place where the standards are different and the expectations are different. We're working through that.”

Still, Rohrabacher suggested the Obama administration lied to Congress about details related to the attack and is “attempting to stonewall progress” on a Congressional investigation by withholding requested documents.

Appearing exasperated, Kerry pledged to lawmakers to appoint a liaison from the State Department to help Congress review unresolved requests.

"I will appoint somebody to work directly with you, starting tomorrow," Kerry said. "After we do that ... you will not have questions.”

"If there's something legitimate that really needs to be put on the table, I'll put it on the table, and I'll work with you in good faith,” he added “"But let's put this behind us. We've got serious, major, big, current, important, vital to our national security issues to be debating."

OBLAMER..Fed these people to the wolves so he wouldn't have to eat crow about the " terrorist being on the run " and the war on terrorism is over...only the sheeple believe his LIES which the left has called his and BILLARYS LIES " MISPOKE" now when Obama or any of his peeps lie for weeks the left says they MISPOKE lol...I got to say this for your d LIEN murderer..He is the best sheeple HERDER since Hitler...you sheeple all deserve what happens to you.He should be impeached and thrown in jail....don't let up...WE THE PEOPLE DESERVE THE TRUTH..the sheeple can cheerlead a murderer

If Chelsea or Michelle were in that building, would security have been different? That is ALL you need to know about these people in authority. Here is the real reason of the attack. Our ambassodor was asking to have some guns returned to us. Guns that were given to the wrong people. 45 minutes after the meeting, they were attacked by same.

Move on????? MOVE ON? Hell no, Obama promised he'd deal with it. People have had no answers. If Americans accept this then they must realise that they are open to everything they get from terrorists who KNOW nobody's going to follow them and make them pay!

What does him being a Jew have to do with it? No, he chose to be a bas-ard. Why isnt his millions of dollars an issue with Liberals? Like the rest he runs his mouth about how we are supposed to act, think and believe, then he gets in his limo and drives off.

His religion is none of your damn business and certainly not needed here.
However, when I think of the hammering they gave Romney because he's rich and the schmoozing around Kerry I could be sick on my shoes!!!! They are such a shower of lying hypocrites.

Had a conservative president refused to allow Congress access to the witnesses of a US ambassador the liberals and the liberal media would be all over him or her. This is why we think liberals are F.O.S.

So it's OK that Dubya and Cheney cannot leave the US for fear of being arrested overseas for their crimes against humanity after starting 2 wars (with 6,000+ US military dead and 100's of 1,000's of collateralized civilian deaths) but you want the deaths of 4 Americans investigated to make a POTUS look bad ???

@Real Truth,I've stated that fact many times partner ,over 150 countries with indictments for human rights violations wanting the trial at the Hague,Netherlands and why can't every other country but ours see these two pukes in Bush and Cheney for what they are murderers of over 5000 innocent military men,women and untold thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians..They the republicans in Darrell Issa had a committee going after Hillary Clinton on Benghazi for 4 men but when Reagan with George Schultz as SOS in the 80s had over 300 die in embassy and marine barricks bombings and because of both houses being controled by their sanctumonious republicans nothing or no one was ever censured or impeached..Reagan would never had been impeached because the ruling houses on Capital Hill knew after Nixon was impeached if Reagan was also no other republican would ever become president,like that for facts republicans,if truth hurts it must be facts,right!!

@Pete,I stand to correct myself I'm "saying why can every other country but ours see these two pukes in Bush and Cheney for what they are murderers"..sorry ,proof read before sending next time..

April 19, 2013 at 10:40 pm |

Carpe Diem

Well said Richard.

April 19, 2013 at 11:25 pm |

Carpe Diem

Real truth – That was then – this is NOW. You can't whitewash what Obama's doing NOW by dredging up the past. Liberals always do that. It seems you're all as spineless and unwilling to deal with your shortcomings as your boss!

April 19, 2013 at 11:35 pm |

William

Lets see, your Peace Prize winning POTUS has troops now in Jordan training Islamic fighters and running arms to them. He helped overthrow a government in Libya by providing logistics, aid and direct air support to Islamic fighters. They then went on to kill our people. He helped overthrow the government in Egypt and has just given 100 main battle tanks and F-16's and a pile of cash to the Muslim Brotherhood. He tied our hands in Afghanistan and has had direct talks with the Taliban all the while giving Karzi a bag of cash. He has drone bases all over North Africa, Yemen and Afghanistan and used drones to invade sovereign airspace to rain missiles down on towns. We now have SF in the Horn of Africa as well. Five years later Gitmo is still open, no military tribunal trials have taken place and he just allowed a new soccer field to be built for them. Yet where is Code Pink? Where are the protestors? Hypocrites.

As an outsider looking in I can't for the life of me see why Americans allow themselves to be made the laughing stock of the world . A nation whose President does what he likes, when he likes and where he likes and breaks every rule in the book – with not a soul to question him.
Even Kim Jong Un laughs in his face.
I grieve, genuinely grieve for a once great nation with some of the best people in the world.

Kerry" "We've got a lot more important things".
Yes, arrogance epitomized. So the death of an ambassador and the others was not important enough to allow Congress to question the witnesses? This is hardly the open government that Obama claimed it would be.

@Richard,don't complain buddy when its your republicans with a more tainted past,typical rightwing hypocrites and ignorent at that!!Go read from Hoovers Great Depression to Bushs 2 unfunded wars created with lies costing thousands of innocent lives and over 2 trillion dollars with hopefully the end in 2014 and Bush ,Cheney indicted by 150 countries as well!!Richard like I've said before and I'll say again don't go to a gun fight with a pen knife because you're bound to lose bud and read and see why republicans are the losers party,its proven historicly time and time again!!

Pete – We're dealing with NOW. Why do all the whining Liberals rush back 50 years every time they find themselves accountable?????
That snivelling starts at the top and as a trickle down effect among Democrats. Bunch of wusses!

April 19, 2013 at 11:39 pm |

Dennis Young

If Kerry cares so little about the lives of those U.S. citizens who died due to this regimes inaction then I personally hope that only he, and those in the regime who helped the tragedy occure by refusing help, are the only others to suffer a similar fate...and soon.

So it's OK that Dubya and Cheney cannot leave the US for fear of being arrested overseas for their crimes against humanity after starting 2 wars (with 6,000+ US military dead and 100's of 1,000's of collateralized civilian deaths) but you want the deaths of 4 Americans investigated to make a POTUS look bad ???

Congress authorized TWICE and before the shi@ hit the fan all of these cowards were spoiling for fight. Once it started they stepped back and waited for an opportunity to politicize it: http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/b/bushlied.htm#.UXGURoJhvko
Kerry as a Senator on hearings, this one Valerie Plame, much less important event than this: http://archive.truthout.org/article/democrats-call-probe-cia-leak
Senator Obama http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/policy-and-strategy/231867-president-versus-senator-obamas-role-reversal-on-leak-investigations
Obama – I gave an order, two minutes into this and if you were and are a Marine, why was it not followed? httb://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrngkuWKXE8
Because some leftist flack in a foreign country wants to arrest Bush is not reason enough to bow to them. You can but I won't be joining you.

April 19, 2013 at 3:05 pm |

William

Lets see, your Peace Prize winning POTUS has troops now in Jordan training Islamic fighters. He helped overthrow a government in Libya by providing logistics, aid and direct air support to them. They then went on to kill our people. He helped overthrow the government in Egypt and has just given 100 main battle tanks and F-16's and a pile of cash to the Muslim Brotherhood, he tied our hands in Afghanistan and has had direct talks with the Taliban all the while giving Karzi a bag of cash. He has drone bases all over North Africa, Yemen and Afghanistan and used drones to invade sovereign airspace to rain missiles down on towns. We now have SF in the Horn of Africa as well. Five years later Gitmo is still open, no military tribunal trials have taken place and he just allowed a new soccer field to be built for them. Yet where is Code Pink? Where are the protestors? Hypocrites all.

Real truth – first – you wouldn't know the truth if it bit your sorry butt
second – Go away you boring old troll.

April 19, 2013 at 11:41 pm |

57768

KERRY: Let's figure out what it is that's missing, if it's legitimate or if it isn't. I don't think anybody lied to anybody. And let's find out exactly, together, what happened, because we need - we got a lot more important things to move on to and get done. (House Foreign Affairs Committee, April 17, 2013)

If that's so, why won't the administration allow the witnesses to testify before Congress? Congress routinely hears the most confidential matters, but they're not being allowed to hear from those who were at ground zero in Benghazi. No, there is no justification for this and it smacks of cover up. In fact, it hardly could be anything else.

SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY: Well, before I became Secretary, Congressman, I believe I got the answers to who was evacuated and had a pretty good sense of what happened there. But now that I am the Secretary and I am responsible to you and the Congress, I can promise you that if you're not getting something that you have evidence of or you think you ought to be getting, we'll work with you. And I will appoint somebody to work directly with you starting tomorrow, with you, Mr. Chairman, to have a review of anything you don't think you've gotten that you're supposed to get. Let's get this done with, folks.

America is the root of all terror. America has invaded sixty countries since world war 2.
In 1953 America overthrow Iran's democratic government Mohammad Mosaddegh and installed a brutal dictator Shah. America helped Shah of Iran to establish secret police and killed thousands of Iranian people.
During Iran-Iraq war evil America supported Suddam Hossain and killed millions of Iranian people. In 1989, America, is the only country ever, shot down Iran's civilian air plane, killing 290 people.
In 2003,America invaded Iraq and killed 1,000,000+ innocent Iraqi people and 4,000,000+ Iraqi people were displaced.
Now America is a failed state with huge debt. Its debt will be 22 trillion by 2015.

> ** > Pete commented: "@john,get help ,you're delushional again and you > haven't taken your meds either have yah!!" >

April 18, 2013 at 5:11 pm |

The REAL Truth...

He is in FACT completely accurate, but there are none so blind as those who refuse to acknowledge an inconvenient truth.

April 19, 2013 at 2:26 pm |

Carpe Diem

He's right. You must have flunked history

April 19, 2013 at 11:46 pm |

57768

KERRY: Let's figure out what it is that's missing, if it's legitimate or if it isn't. I don't think anybody lied to anybody. And let's find out exactly, together, what happened, because we need - we got a lot more important things to move on to and get done. (House Foreign Affairs Committee, April 17, 2013)

Well it seems like everyone here has already passed judgement and would like nothing better than to sent out the firing squad. Let's forget the decisions made by the previous administration and the number of lives lost and just say " that's different" I don't disagree with people who still want answers from the Benghazi attack, rail against the machine until your face turns blue, or you pass away from old age with your fist clenched and your last words Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi. Just remember as you fall to dust with your righteousness still intact, worse things have been done, by the oval office. GW and Cheney will go down in American history as the two most dangerous people to the American armed forces, and Cheney to his neighbor. Those who live in glass houses.....

History is a lot longer than four years, or if your from the bible belt, 6000.

THAT piece of rubbish is a typical Liberal cop out. Whenever you're caught with your pants down, you scrabble about looking for something else to blame rather than MAN UP and deal with your lies and cover-ups.

Obama will be judged on what HE did and didn't do NOT every other President since Abe Lincoln! [whose shoes he is not fit to polish]

KERRY: Let's figure out what it is that's missing, if it's legitimate or if it isn't. I don't think anybody lied to anybody. And let's find out exactly, together, what happened, because we need - we got a lot more important things to move on to and get done. (House Foreign Affairs Committee, April 17, 2013)

How many people died in the Plame affair? "Americans deserve a Congress that holds Washington accountable for the truth about our national security," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who authored the letter. "Can anyone argue with a straight face that Congress has time to look at steroid use in baseball but doesn't have the will to provide congressional oversight of the leak of a CIA agent's name?" From: http://archive.truthout.org/article/democrats-call-probe-cia-leak

I have a far better idea here. Let's pull all of our embassy staff out of Libya once and for all. In fact, the Qadaffy regime there should never have been overthrown by the NATO forces without whose help those self-styled "liberators" had no chance of succeeding of taking over!!!

R Bockman, you apparently took issue with Pete and his comment, yet here you espouse racist comments, and you do nothing to chide John Smith for his rant of hatred towards the United States. Do you not see the double standard you have used. If your going to espouse racism and support the hate filled comment of John Smith then you have no footing on which to stand, this makes the comments you make irrelevant to the story at hand.
Rather then trying to behave like an insolent child, perhaps you should real thought behind your words, if your capable of such thought.

Hey wait – John stated recorded facts. Since when has an American been deprived of freedom of speech?

I'm sick of people here who mention religion being labelled bigots or people disagreeing with Obama as racist. That is juvenile at best and hatred at worst. You people seriously need to learn English or stay off here till you learn respect for others without inventing nasty generalizations.

April 19, 2013 at 11:58 pm |

FreedomAtAllCost

"Never let a good crisis go to waste." Right, Hanoi Kerry? WE will not "move on"!!!!!!!!!! Who ordered the 'stand down' command?!!!!!! Why was no help sent?!!!!!!!! Americans want answers from "the most transparent administration in history".

Ahh it seems someone has who has never been in command is making critizicing command decisions. Put yourself in the shoes of the people in the field. We know what happened in the past but how can you predict the future.

Where were our assets at the time of the attack? Did they have the permission of the elected government to deploy outside of the emabassy or their bases? When our forces operate in the soverign territories of other nations, we have to abide by their rules.

Why were our assets so far away? Sovereign state?! What a joke. We just saved their butts. That not enough to guys like you I guess. You think you need to kiss them too. US personnel should always come first. These liberal, liberal arts educated pin heads think they can lead a country, but could not even negotiate buying a used car without getting ripped off.

April 19, 2013 at 1:01 am |

The REAL Truth...

@DaveD – get over it dude. Indignation gets one nowhere. There are events overseas that we have no control over.. it doesn't matter if we just saved their butts.. and you have no idea what was going on behind the scenes. Too many right wing American's believe it's all black and white and as simple as strolling down to the 7-Eleven to grab a slurpy. Too bad that's as far as their intelligence can take them.

@Freedom,get over it man and if you wanted transparency why didn't you start with the Bushs deals years ago...Reagan had over 300 military deaths on his watch in embassy and barricks attacks and where were you FREEDOM back then under a rock or stoned as well...Quit being hypocritical about this administration when the one you obviously voted for ran roughshot over everything and everybody not caring what it did in the long run like the Iraq,Afghanistan wars that Bush created with Cheneys help right!!Killing thousands of innocent military men,women and Iraqi civilians for the chance to cash in on Iraqi crude the gold of the middle east and now FREEDOM do you want justice because 150 countries want Bushs ,Cheneys heads in a noose and I approve it myself because I know better and didn't fall for those lies like the rest of you did!!

KERRY: Let's figure out what it is that's missing, if it's legitimate or if it isn't. I don't think anybody lied to anybody. And let's find out exactly, together, what happened, because we need - we got a lot more important things to move on to and get done. (House Foreign Affairs Committee, April 17, 2013)

why after Newton town the survivor were all on tv and being interviewed, however, anyone see any interviews of the people who survivied the Sept 11 attack in Libya ? I hate to say coverup, something not right here, Obama loves to use people as props, but this time it like they disappeared.

Why should anyone be surprised as Mr. Kerry does not want the truth to come out..........how Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton stood by and allowed a US Ambassador and three other brave Americans die horrible deaths with not a care in the world. Clinton especially should be indicted for criminal activity in this case, knowling allowing these people to die and ignoring their pleas. Obama should should just do what he does and that is nothing!!

@Craig,go back then and hang your buddy Bush for the thousands of innocent military men,women and Iraqi civilians killed with his lies..Then you and your sanctumonious ilk can say justice is mine but until then shut the hell up hypocrites and I mean all of you ignorent republicans!!

There is a difference with the death of someone who knowingly takes on a important role in support of our national intersts in a highly dangerous area, and the death of people going to a grand tradiation in one of the greatest cities in the world.

For you take make such a statement in reference to what happened in Boston is repulsive.

Both incidents have things in common. Doth were terror attacks on the US, and both times Obama tried to pretend that it wasn't terror. We should be wondering why, after his re-election, he STILL wants to pretend it wasn't a terror attack.

@frank,its because idiots like you pick apart his speeches even thou you know nothing about comprehension or what he stands for being one whos big on obstructing right!!

April 18, 2013 at 5:00 pm |

The REAL Truth...

@frankllovesfl – Since you seem to be splitting hairs – both incidents were NOT terror attacks on the US. Here's facts - those who died in Benghazi knew the risks. They were stationed in a foreign country not at an official "Embassy" (whose property is considered sovereign) but in a regular building. They WERE killed by terrorists.
and.. Obama never stated they were NOT terrorist attacks. Had he stated they were (early on) and it turned out they were not you right wing nuts would have been all over him for getting that wrong too! He learnt his lesson already.. you need to learn yours.

April 19, 2013 at 2:39 pm |

EricStoner

And anyone using "The Real Truth" shows they are a zealot following their messiah. Have a sip of OFA KoolAid and relax.

April 19, 2013 at 2:44 pm |

Carpe Diem

frank – Excellent point.

Real truth – The people in Benghazi ASKED for help at the time of a terror attack but didn't get it. They were left to die.

Thank God the people of Boston had the local, police, state police and FBI and didn't have to rely on this administration.
What a wonderful job those people did!

April 20, 2013 at 12:07 am |

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CNN's Security Clearance examines national and global security, terrorism and intelligence, as well as the economic, military, political and diplomatic effects of it around the globe, with contributions from CNN's national security team in Washington and CNN journalists around the world.